Time Trials: An Attempt to Save Runeterra
by ChildofApollo4276
Summary: A young time manipulating Zaunite who sets out to save his city might just end up saving the world with an unwilling crew and soulmate in tow. In a quest to end a devastating war with a self-imposed exile, an alleged murderer and a curious explorer, Ekko fears he might just lose more than just his sanity on this trip. (Soulmate AU) (Ekko x Ezreal) (Riven x Yasuo)
1. Chapter 1

**A Not so Epic Sand Heist and My Soulmate Reward:**

Ezreal:

I've done it again! Going out of my depth and returning victorious; no one can hold Jarrow Lightfeather back! A small smile of victory graced my lips as I enter the final resting place of the great Shuriman emperor. One of them at least. According to all the history I learned back at home, memorizing all of the lords from foreign lands was the most boring thing you could do. Might as well go look at their tombs yourself, and take a souvenir back with you. Sunlight filtered down from a high window in the tomb lighting up my soon-to-be stolen artifact. It glistened in the growing dawn light, reflecting the pure gold of the staff onto my face. I breathed in a gentle breath, slowly taking a step towards this rare artifact. Legend states that it can control the desert sands on this vast wasteland, but when are legends ever accurate?

It was laid carefully onto a casket that was covered in dust. I wiped away the thick layer on the front as the inscription made itself known with wisps of dust soaring out into the still air. 'Azir' it read, 'The Great Shuriman King' I carefully picked up the staff. There were no traps coming in to the tomb, surly there would be many on the way out. The staff was cold, despite being in the middle of the desert. I gripped it harder watching for an explosion of traps to trigger, a cage to fall down, something. Nothing happened. I frowned as I carefully made my way to an exit. A couple of soft steps later, the tomb was just as still as before. A sense of foreboding swept through me. An unguarded tomb? Either someone had already cleared out all the traps, or the item itself was a trap. I adjusted the gauntlet on my hand. I guess I will just have to find out.

I turned promptly and exited the Shuriman tomb the same way I came in. Stepping out into the sun, its morning rays blinded me for half a second, but a half a second was all it took for a blunt object to connect with the back of my head. Pain raced up my skull as the momentum carried me forward into the sand. The staff slid out of my hand and stopped a few feet away. Did I trigger a trap? Could I really be that careless to think I was out of the woods yet? I quickly got up on all fours when a foot connected with my side at full force. No this was a planned assault, judging by the steel toed boots. That's going to leave a bruise. I activated my gauntlet, or attempted to when someone else grabbed it and yanked it off my arm. Then they twisted my arm behind my back and forced me to my knees. I quickly did a rundown of my assailants. All five of them were dressed in black and red clothing armed with clubs and had standard Noxian thug armor on them.

"Well well Lightfeather, it looks like your luck has just about run out." The lead thug stated as he picked up Azir's staff from the sand.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm just giving you guys extra time to surrender or run away before I kick your asses." His eyes flared before he flung the sharp side of the staff across my cheek. My head snapped to the side as I felt blood run down the right side of my face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?" My head was pounding, I couldn't even think of a witty retort.

"Boys." Not that there was time. A fist connected with my stomach knocking the wind out of me before the other goons gathered around. The one holding me upright shoved me face first into the ground and suddenly all I felt were feet impacting my body. One connected with my head and my world spun into darkness. Before I fell into unconsciousness however, I heard one clue, "Singed will be most pl..."

I came to slowly, feeling the rough desert sand beneath my fingers as I slowly sat up. I touched my cheek to feel dried blood from the cut, my head was still sore but not in pain, so no concussion. Luckily. The rest of me was covered in bruises, nothing that won't fade overnight. I pulled myself to my feet as I saw my gauntlet still half submerged in the sand. I sighed in relief as I pulled it out, emptied it, and refitted my weapon over my hand. I guess this is what I get for letting my guard down. Whoever those thieves were, they were not interested in my personal belongings. Did they follow me here? The thugs clearly just wanted the staff, so it was a possibility they were going to raid the tomb. Was this a wrong place wrong time situation? Not likely, they knew me. At least alias me. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. I couldn't figure out their motives through pure speculation, so it's time to do some research myself.

The breeze picked up and desert sand spun through the air. Cold. Night was already arriving. I guess tomorrow I will have to hunt them down. I carefully activated my gauntlet, picturing my hometown of Piltover. Long jumps were not something I did often, it took to much concentration and energy, but I definitely did not want to be stuck out in the desert at night. I spun my gauntlet in a circle before jumping into the air. There was a loud pop and a fizzle as I landed out of a jump almost fifty miles away. I staggered forward and almost fell flat on my face as I stood just outside the great site of Piltover. The City of Progress. I entered through the gate just as the sun disappeared behind the city silhouette and the street lights slowly start to glow up and down the cobblestone streets. I made my way to my uncle's house. My uncle was a professor, highly esteemed and he always wanted me to become a professor too. With a whole world out there, I could never imagine myself sitting behind a desk. There is too much to see and learn. I quickly and quietly entered our house, before sneaking upstairs to my room. My uncle was probably in the library this time of night, so I could probably be out of here by tomorrow before he even knew I was here.

My room was pretty simple, it stayed similar to my childhood days to be honest. A map of Runeterra covered one of my walls while a simple dark wood writers desk sat in a corner, my chair tucked in. My bed was a couple feet off the carpeted floor with a soft mattress and tan comforter neatly made. An airship model was hung from my ceiling still, my dad had helped me build it when I was a child before he went missing with my mother. The mirror hanging next to my dresser reflected my unusually dull and exhausted blue eyes. I was covered head to toe in sand and the right side of my face was caked in dried blood. I grabbed a washcloth out of my dresser, shed my explorer's jacket onto my bed and headed to the bathroom to clean up. I stripped quickly and jumped straight into the shower already thinking of a game plan to get the Emperor Azir's staff back.

Noxian thugs came after me with my fake name, Jarrow Lightfeather. If they had called me by my real name, Ezreal, I might have been a little more concerned. They mentioned Singed before I was knocked out. All I really knew about Singed is that he is some sort of mad scientist who lives in Zaun. Obsessed with chemicals. Zaun is the rival city to Piltover, its streets are filled with criminals and all types of untrustworthy characters. The one entrance to the city below was guarded by the Piltovern police force, no Zaunites were allowed to enter the Piltover without a permit. Anyone could enter Zaun however, but I haven't ever really heard of anyone trying to get down there.

Personally, I have never been to Zaun, but many citizens talk down on the City of Iron and Glass that was once a great resource before it fell to gang influence. If I was to go after the staff, I could assume it would be brought to Singed. Meaning I would have to go to Zaun for the first time. I quickly got out of the shower and dried myself. Throwing on a shirt and shorts, I shook my hair dry before brushing it out of my eyes. I went back to my room, sat on my bed and began to form a game plan. Getting into Zaun will be easy. Finding Singed's workshop would take some doing, but I could probably get some locals to tell me.

A light tingling sensation appeared on my wrist. It was my birthday. The sudden realization hit me like a lightning bolt. I sat stone straight as I covered the inside of my left wrist with my other palm. I was turning eighteen. Not just was this a milestone of adulthood, this was also the day I get my soulmate tell. See, everyone in the world has writing appear on their wrist the night they turn eighteen at midnight. If white writing appeared, it means you have already met your soulmate and those would be the next words they will say to you. If its black writing then you haven't meet them yet, and those are the first words they will say to you. When you do meet or re-meet your soulmate, the words turn a shade lighter than your natural skin color, still readable but a sure sign. When your soulmate dies, those words are carved into your skin as a freshly made scar for the rest of your life.

I breathed in a shaky breath. For the amount of exploring I have done, and the amount of people I have meet throughout Runeterra, there was a very high possibility that my words would be white. What would they say? Would it be romantic? Or would it be something completely ordinary, like hello, or how's it going? I carefully lifted my palm away. To my surprise, the words were printed black onto my light tan skin. As I read the words, something became very clear to me. Meeting my soulmate would not be on good terms. There was a guarantee that most of the town would never want my soulmate around. My heart hammered in my chest and dread filled me. I always thought getting your soulmate tell was supposed to be romantic, or at the very least; happy. But no. The words stated; 'Get out of here Piltie!' Only one kind of people called us Pilites; and those were Zaunites. There is a good chance the future love of my life is a criminal.

**AN: Hey, this is just the start to a story idea that I've had, if its any good please review! I do plan to keep writing this story, but updates will not be on any kind of schedule, due to mine being so busy. Thanks for reading! PEACE OUT. -ChildofApollo**


	2. Chapter 2

**I Swear I Will Save My City**

Ekko:

I ran a hand through my white Mohawk, twirling a pencil through the other as I stared down at the problem at hand. My time-winder device sat to the side of my workbench slightly covering the blueprint idea sheets that were scattered on the tabletop surface.

Night was falling in Zaun, as the smoke that constantly hung around buildings turned from light gray to dark gray and slight orange from the rays. If I just perfected my invention, my ZeroDrive, I could prove that Piltover wasn't the only City of Progress. As if progress was something that was only attainable if you were rich. Those Pilties on their high horses probably thought nothing good could ever come out of Zaun. Contrary to popular belief, riches and intelligence are only a correlation, not a causation as many believed.

'Thunk'

It was such a light sound, I almost doubted that I heard it. But if I was correct, that means someone just entered my hideout. I quickly strapped on my time-winder and pulled the reset cord. It hummed quietly as I scanned the room. My sword was on the other side of the room, propped up against my wooden nightstand. I quietly began to move to that side of the room when I was grabbed from behind suddenly. I ripped my arms out of whoever had tried to restrain me and dove across the room to reach my sword, but I wasn't fast enough. I heard a whistle of a blade through the air, cutting the upper part of my left arm and landing inches from my face. The blade clearly used to be a large sword, but it had been broken off a quarter length from the hilt. It had runes running up the center of the blade. I scrambled backwards and I left a blood trail across my wooden floor. My attacker was wearing a green cloak, they yanked their blade out of the floor and turned to me. They stood between my sword and where I was crouched, holding my bleeding bicep. I didn't know how serious my wound was, but blood seeped through my fingers, making trails down my dark skin.

"I have some questions." A surprisingly feminine voice threatened. Her red eyes flashed with determination.

"I don't have any answers for you." I shot back, my mind racing. Was she here for my Time winder? How would anyone know it even exists?

She lunged forward with her broken blade extended. I tried to dash to the side, but I wasn't fast enough. Her hilt connected with the side of my head, stunning me just long enough for us to crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs. After a confusing struggle she ended up on top of me, pinning me down with her weight, her sword cold against my throat.

"Now, where is the staff?" She questioned.

"What staff?"

"Cute."

Pain flared through my shoulder as she drove the tip all the way through to the floor. I screamed in pain and yelled, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Lies, I followed Singed this f-" I managed to pull my right hand out of her grasp, and turn the reset with my mouth. The timeline slowed down and cut off the rest of her sentence. Wait... Singed? Did she think I was working for Singed? The sword flew out of my shoulder and everything was traced with light blue as I was pulled back through time, my cuts healing and retracting my steps back to the moment I pulled the reset cord.

I paused too long in my thoughts and I was successfully grabbed from behind this time and was thrown to the floor. She had my right arm twisted behind me and her sword up against the back of my neck.

"You're going to answer my questions and you won't get hurt." She began.

I interrupted, "Why do you think I'm with Singed?"

"...what? I never even- "

"Also, no I don't know where the staff is. Or what the staff is."

She tightened her grip on me, painfully so. "How did you know all of that? I haven't even started asking..." her voice sounded a bit shaky. Oh right, she doesn't remember the last timeline.

"I'm a seer...?"

She let me go and moved back form me. "There are no seers this far out from Ionia." Her red eyes flashed with fear. I quickly pulled the reset again. I didn't need to try to explain why I knew what was going to happen. The room washed in blue again, but this time when I hit the reset point, I went into motion, dodging her grab at me, and diving forward just like the first timeline, but halfway through, rolled up to my feet and avoided the thrown blade, as I grabbed my own sword and turned just in time. I blocked the incoming hit with my own sword and acted like I never seen her before.

"What do you want?"

"Where is Singed? I followed him this far, I'm sure you know something." She shifted, readjusting her grip on her sword, favoring her right leg.

I narrowed my eyes, "You're injured."

"Doesn't matter."

"I know where Singed is... but I don't work for him. It's just easy to notice where new chemicals come out of."

She nodded and lowered her sword, playing nice, I did the same. I was thinking that this was just a misunderstanding. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Riven."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ekko." I placed my sword back onto my nightstand before slowly approaching Riven. She still was loosely holding her sword.

"Where is Singed's hideout?"

"I'm not telling you that, you're bleeding."

She gripped her sword tighter, "I'm fine."

"No, you are not, let me help."

I guided her to my bed and gently pushed her down into a sitting position. She placed her sword next to her on the covers, as I revealed the wound on her leg. It was a long sword cut from knee to ankle, not cleaned or bandaged and she was clearly traveling on it. "Tell me about Singed, why are you after him." I pulled some of the cloth away from the wound, she hissed as it reopened the scab it had sealed its self into.

I started to clean her wound with a wet, lukewarm cloth as she told me her story.

"I was following Singed's goons, Demacians. They could fight better than I thought, which is why I got hurt. Clearly from the military. They had a staff with them, I'm pretty sure they robbed it from a tomb. I dug around a bit and found out that with that staff, they are able to create sand soldiers. With Singed, they're trying to create soldiers either immune or embedded with toxins. They're using Zaun as a testing ground."

I froze, halfway down of wrapping her leg in bandages. "Zaun is not a testing ground." I quickly finished wrapping her wound in gauze, and grabbed my sword. "So, if I steal this staff, Singed won't be able to carry out experiments on my city."

"Yes," She said, standing and grabbing her sword. "And I'm coming with you."

"No, you need to stay here, you can hardly walk on that leg, much less run or assault a highly guarded facility. Trust me, I'll get the staff and come back, I am not going to let Singed ruin my city. I swear I'm going to save Zaun if it is the last thing I do." Her red eyes searched my face before she sat back down and sighed, waving me off.

Twenty minutes later, I was on the roof of the building across from Singed workshop. I was crouched down, surveying the street. As I pulled my reset cord again, the hum of the time winder calmed my nerves. For a highly guarded facility, the back entrance didn't have any guards. All of a sudden there was a sizzling sound, with a bang, and a person appeared in a flash of light, as though he had jumped through the wall. He had blonde hair swept across his forehead, and he was wearing an explorer's jacket. A large golden gauntlet was on his left hand, a golden staff in another. He started to run across the back alley-way, before a thug burst out of the back door with a semi-automatic and lit up the street with gunfire. I heard a scream and as the smoke cleared, the thief was collapsed on his knees, the staff next to him as he held his left hand to his bleeding chest as blood poured from the multiple gunshot wounds. Blood also dripped from his mouth as he coughed, clearly dying. I quickly turned the reset, watching the events retold backwards in blue lights, my mind racing. Whoever this was already did the hard work. He had stolen the staff that could wreck my city. All I had to do was save his life.

**A/N: And here's chapter two. If you liked it, please review! Have a great day! Peace out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Update finally! Enjoy! Peace Out!**

**Thanks for the Follow: Jeremiah6464**

**Thanks for the Favorite: Jeremiah6464**

**Timing Gone Wrong**

Ekko:

I counted back the seconds as the stranger blinked back into the building. Thirty seconds. I had to bridge the gap between me and him in that time. Stationed on top of a building, I quickly glanced along the edge of the building. Fire escapes. Twenty seconds left. I raced to the edge, glancing down the stairs. There was no slide ladder for me to get down. I can't realistically jump down three stories and expect to fight afterwards. Ten seconds left. I leaped down, catching each railing with my hands, holding for just a moment before jumping down to the next one. My boots hit the ground just as a loud sizzling bang lit up the alleyway for a second time. The other boy had just appeared on the other side of the wall. I raced forward, straight to the backdoor. A thug was going to appear and if I timed it right, the door was about to burst open. A thug burst through the door, about to light up the alleyway, when he saw me charging and lifted his gun at me. I hit the reset midstride. I glanced over at the blonde as time slows down. His electric blue eyes were wide in shock, probably wondering where I came from. I didn't even have my sword drawn. As time pulled us back to the start, I knew I needed to be faster.

I was running the second the blue reset light had faded. Thirty seconds. I leapt down the fire escape, still keeping the count in my head. My boots slammed into the ground. Twenty seconds. I raced across the alleyway, yanking my sword from its sheath as the boy reappeared again with a sizzling bang. I was in time. The backdoor burst open. Just as the thug raised his weapon, I swung my sword, sending the gun to the ground. I then aimed for his head. He dropped to unconsciousness while letting out a surprised grunt. I slammed the door in his face while spinning to see if the other boy was alright.

"Wow. Thanks- "

The blonde's impressed voice was cut off with gunfire. I hit the reset instinctually. Everything washed with blue again, as I traced the bullets that would have torn us to shreds back to their owner. Peeking around the corner, I could see another thug with a semiautomatic. Damn. He must have come running around from the front door to this place. My body was being pulled back to the fire escapes. He was too far away for me to close the distance after I take out the first guy. I glanced at the gauntlet on the blonde's arm. Maybe…

Blue faded from the view and I was off running again. Fire escapes, boots on the ground. Twenty seconds. Bang, he appeared. Took out the thug exactly the same as the previous timeline. I slammed the door shut and shouted, "Behind you!"

I spun around at the same time. The blonde, registering what I said, spun around and raised his gauntlet. It glowed with blue light, before a burst of white light burst from it, smacking the thug straight in the face. He dropped with a shout of pain, holding his face.

"Woah! Now that was fun!" The blonde's accent now stood out to be painfully obvious to his origins. Only one place had such a cocky streak. Piltover. He spun on his heels to face me, his eyes sparking with excitement. In a split second, they widened in fear, and gunfire sounded yet again. Blood erupted from his chest, and I twisted the reset, as a bullet slammed into my back. Pain exploded in my torso, but vanished as soon as it appeared. I guess another thug had come around the other corner of the building. I sucked in a deep breath as the time-winder did its job. By the time I was back on the roof, I was breathing heavy. There were only so many more times I could do this run before I ran out of stamina.

The blue reset faded yet again. Thirty seconds. I jumped down the fire escape yet again. Nineteen seconds left. I was slower this time. I made it to the door in time anyways, dispatching the thug and slamming the door. I spun on my heel, faster than the other two resets; my breathing heavy. The Piltie opened his mouth to speak but I gestured to the thug about to appear behind him. Luckily, it still did the trick. As he dispatched that one, I turned and readied my sword for the third guy. As he appeared around the corner, I swung my sword at his face. The blunt weapon connected with his head. A loud crack sounded as he dropped to the floor. I heard shouts from inside building. We couldn't fight all of Singed's forces.

I turned around and grabbed the Piltover's arm. Yanking him towards the alleyway on the opposite side of the street. I had just shoved the protesting blonde around the corner, as the backdoor slammed open again. Shots filled the air, and pain flared up along my leg. I gasped in agony as I finished staggering around the corner. I looked down on my left leg. Three bullets were embedded into my skin. I stumbled.

"Woah." The blonde caught me and saw the damage, "Hey, it's okay, I got you. You saved my life let me return the favor."

I shook my head between my scattered gulps of air, as the blonde started half carrying, half dragging me down the alleyway. I pulled my hand up to my mouth, and used my teeth to turn the reset button. I paused in relief, waiting for the pull of the timeline reset. Nothing. I twisted it again. Still no response. I glanced down at the ZeroDrive. It was broken. Apparently, I was shot four times, but my time-winder took one of the bullets, rendering it useless. Panic clawed its way up my chest. We could die. Permanently this time. I could still hear boots on the ground chasing us. I stumbled hard as the Piltover yanked me down a new alley. I was leaving a trail of blood. My brain unhelpfully provided that information. The blonde was struggling to carry both me and the stolen staff.

I yanked myself out of his grasp, falling against the wall. I winced as twinges of pain lanced up my leg yet again.

"Dude, what- "

"Get out of here Piltie!" I demanded as I struggled to breathe through my exhaustion and pain.

His eyes widened dramatically and his face paled at the thought. Who cares about strangers this much? Clearly a Piltovern weakness. Black dots appeared in my vision.

"The staff. It could destroy this place. Get it out of here." I sagged to the floor, giving up trying to outrun my doom. At last, it seemed that my pasts were catching up to me. I guess seventeen was a pretty good age to reach as a gang member before getting left for dead in an alleyway. The rest of my gang was gone anyways. Tears welled up uninvited in my eyes. My luck had run out. Voices filled the alleyway, someone new had arrived. I could only hope my death was painless. The other figure arguing with the Piltovern came into focus. Wait… Riven? She had the staff. She looked at me sadly before running off with it. Oh well, at least Singed won't have it anymore. The blonde kneeled down next to me.

"Come on. I'm going to get you out of here." His voice sounded shaky for some reason. Weird.

I let out a small chuckle. "Too late, my pasts… they've caught up." My vision swam before the blackness enveloped me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! Haven't posted in a while, but rest assured I am not dead yet. Enjoy this chapter!**

**Response to Reviews: **

**OwO: I will continue to write this one to the end (Promise, might just take awhile), Im glad you enjoy it! I hope this chapter makes things more interesting... xD**

"Get out of here Piltie!" My wrist flared up at the words, tracing those very letters hidden underneath my glove. I never thought hearing those words out loud would make my heart stop. I expected the first encounter to be a lot less dire than the circumstances I was facing currently. I glanced at the boy leaning heavily against the wall, his arm holding his sword loosely by his side, and the other one clutching his side from the fight. The blood coating the side of his right leg stood out more starkly than when he was initially hit, but I could clearly see at least three bullet entry wounds. With that amount of blood pooling on the ground, he could end up bleeding out in about an hour without any medical attention. My soulmate. I don't even know his name!

He glanced up and motioned to the staff, "The staff, it could destroy this place. Get it out of here." He slid against the wall, until he was sitting on the ground. He leaned his head back to rest on the bricks, closing his eyes, chest still heaving from the run. The staff felt too heavy suddenly. If it could destroy this place, I did need to get it out of Zaun, but I also needed to get him help. My throat felt tight.

"I didn't know he had a friend to help." I turned on my heel, looking for the source of the voice. It was a female. A warrior, considering the massive broken sword in her hand. Her red eyes meet mine, "He was helping me steal back the staff, I was going to bring it to the elders in Ionia." She made no move to take it by force from me.

"Why?" I asked, trying to determine if I could believe her or not.

"To pay for my own sins, I guess. Also, to stop Singed for personal reasons." Her voice was hard and bitter. A small noise escaped the boy who saved my life. Something between a sob and a groan. I glanced down, and his eyes were open, trying to focus on us. They were filled with tears. I passed her the staff without a second thought. I didn't even notice she made a swift exit.

I crouched down to eye-level with my soulmate. His chocolate eyes couldn't focus on much, probably from the stress and blood loss. His white Mohawk was still in place, and if he wasn't about to die, I probably would try to touch it. His dark beautiful skin was turning a sickly color. I forced back tears of my own, and choked out, "Come on. I'm going to get you out of here."

His eyes met mine, "Too late, my pasts… they've caught up." His head drops down to his chest, unresponsive. A wave of pure panic races through every nerve ending in my body.

"NO!" I grabbed his shoulder, trying to shake him awake, "I will save you goddammit! I will get to annoy the hell out of you as your soulmate for more than two minutes!" The tears that burned my eyes slid hotly down my cheeks. His head rolled to the side as his eyes slide open a fraction. I could feel his heartbeat as I grabbed his wrist to check. I scrubbed the tears away angrily; I had no time to emotionally process this right now. I need to get my soulmate to Piltover. We have the best doctors, and they will be able to save his life.

I pulled his sword from his limp hand before sliding it into his sheath. I placed my hands carefully underneath his knees and under his lower back, carrying him bridal style. I pressed his injured side against my stomach, hoping to help stop the blood flow. I turned towards Piltover and began to walk as fast as I could. My soulmate was pretty light, but over the next couple of miles to the border, my arms were shaking with effort. I eventually reached the border, and to my disappointment the police were guarding it. I shouldn't have been surprised. They rarely left, but I thought I'd get lucky and could sneak back into Piltover. I raced up to one of the entering stations.

"Do you have your paper- Ezreal?" A familiar voice came out of the entry booth. I glanced up, and saw familiar pink hair. I was flooded with relief. Vi will understand. She leaned out, "You look pale, are you…?"

She glanced down at the prone figure in my arms. She gasped. "Ekko?" She was on her feet in a minute, looking at the apparently familiar white Mohawk. She exited the booth the next second, shutting down the lights and closing the booth.

"You know him?" I gasped out, exhausted from my journey out here. Vi nodded, her gaunt-less hands hovering over his prone form. "Please. I know Zaunites aren't allowed into Piltover without an invitation, but Vi…" I clutched my arms tighter around my soulmate, "He'll die without a hospital."

She bit her bottom lip, thinking for a second, before finally saying, "Okay, okay. We'll get him to a hospital. I'll forge an invitation later, but we have to hurry."

I then followed her to the police car sitting nearby as Vi flicked on the lights and sped through the city to the nearest hospital. Nurses pulled him from my arms the second we walked through the door. I let them. The nurse placed his sword in my hands as well as the shattered remains of some sort of power cell that he wore around his waist. Vi placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come on Ezreal. I need to get a statement from you about how this all happened."

I nodded, letting myself be led to the police station and into an interrogation room. Vi brought me some warm apple cider and placed it on the table in front of me. I didn't glace up and I picked at the edges of my clothes. Large patches of blood covered parts of it. His blood. I did not even truly meet the guy yet, and his wellbeing was the only thing in the forefront of my mind.

"How did you come across Ekko? What lead up to him being shot?" Vi asked.

I swallowed hard saying quietly, "He saved my life. He was shot when we were escaping."

Vi leaned forward on her elbows, "Escaping? Escaping who?"

"Singed. He sent thugs after me when I was doing a temple raid. He stole a Shuriman staff from me. I was trying to steal it back. But the escape went wrong. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere and saved my life. I don't know why he would risk his own life for me, we don't really know each other very well. Apparently Singed was going to do something bad to Zaun with it."

Vi nodded as she listened to my story, "I'm not surprised Ekko helped then, he was always protective of Zaun. It sounds like he knows something about this staff and what Singed is planning, so I guess we will question him when he's stable enough. Where is the staff now?"

"I don't know." I said, sipping my cider. Vi raised her eyebrows at me. I cleared my throat, "Well this one woman showed up. She said she was on a quest to return the staff to Ionia. That's all."

Vi sighed. "Do you at least know her name?"

"No?" I winced guiltily, "She had bright white hair and red eyes, carrying a broken sword. She was wearing a green cloak if that helps at all."

Vi groaned running her hand through her pink locks, "I will have to ask Ekko about all this tomorrow. The hospital said he will be okay, and should be able to be questioned tomorrow afternoon."

"Can I come with?"

Vi shot me a questioning look.

I quickly explained, "I… he saved my life. I wanted to thank him, and return his sword and things."

Vi nodded, "Yes, you can come with me tomorrow, but go and get some rest tonight. I'll pick you up."

"Yes ma'am." I two figured mock-saluted her before taking off into the town again, Ekko's things in my hands.

I arrived back into my apartment, carefully placing Ekko's supplies on my desk. I sat down at the chair with a heavy sigh, running a hand through my blonde locks. I picked up his sword, studying the length. When he rescued me from being shot, he basically used this as a baseball bat, but it glowed with a soft blue light. I waved it back and forth through the air. It hummed slightly. It had to be powered by the blue rectangle that he was carrying. I eyed the busted container. Should I try to fix it? I was no engineer, but maybe.

I reached in between the broken glass and touched a shard. Ice hot pain raced up my entire arm from a single finger touch. I quickly withdrew my hand with a cry. Okay, that's some serious power. I'll let my soulmate fix that. I smiled lightly. I hoped that our second encounter would go a lot smoother. When he wakes up in the hospital, he'll realize that I'm his soulmate. I fell asleep that night hopeful.

The next morning Vi drove me to the hospital. Her radio crackled on the way over. "Got a situation, at the jail… Jinx is wreaking havoc again, will need your backup Vi."

"Yeah, I'm on my way cupcake." Vi slammed the radio down after responding, turning a hard left and blaring her sirens. I gripped the seat a little tighter, as we almost slammed into several civilian cars.

"Small detour Ezreal. Sit tight in the car, we don't need you jumping into the fight." She slammed on the brake in front of the jail. It was on fire. I stared in awe, still clutching Ekko's things in my hands. Fire licked-up the side of the jail and a huge column of smoke curled into the air.

Vi tugged on the front of my shirt, bringing up nose-to-nose, "I mean it Ezreal, you have to stay put. I don't need your shenanigans in this mess."

"You don't need to worry about me! I'm an archeologist!" I cried.

"Yeah, so you claim." Vi smirked at me before releasing my shirt and jumping out the car. The frame shook from the force she used to shut the door. She raced to help the fire-fighters and disappeared from sight. I watched the burning jail with interest. Slightly out of boredom as well.

Two figures flying out of a window caught my attention. One had two long bubble gum blue braids and was armed to the teeth. The other had an unmistakable white mohawk. My heart sank. My soulmate was with Jinx. He was laughing along with something she told him. He must have snuck out of the hospital to wreak havoc with her. My worst fears were true. He was a criminal. No. I clutched his weapon tighter in my hands. There has to be an explanation, and I was going to get one.


End file.
